Back to Gaea
by Yuki Tsukihana
Summary: It's been five years and Hitomi must now return to Gaea to battle a new enemy. Will she find Van and her friends in time? And will they remember her? V/H
1. Explanation

A/N: I have not seen the end of Escaflowne yet so if my story differs in any way from the series, please ignore it or pretend it's another dimension. O.o; Arigato.  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Escaflowne, any of the characters, or any of the episodes (poor me), or Van (poor, poor me). **Drags Van off to some secluded spot** Heheh! Arigato again.  
  
1 Back to Gaea  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Explanation  
  
Hitomi sat on the grass near the track. She absentmindedly swung her pendant back and forth. Yukari came up behind her. "Wow, Hitomi. That's becoming a habit of yours." She indicated the pendant.  
  
"Yukari," Hitomi started. She glanced at her pendant and stopped swinging it. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She smiled and stood up. Looking up, she brushed her hair back. She had let it grow out so that it was now shoulder length.  
  
A single star shimmered in the sunset. Hitomi wondered if one of the stars that would come out tonight was Gaea. It had been five years since she left that world; since she left Van. Since she left all her friends at that place. After Zaibach was defeated, the white column of light had pulled her back to her own world. But Hitomi recalled that she had promised everyone, especially Van, that she would come back someday. For five years she had tried to summon that column of light to take her back to Gaea. For five years she had tried and failed. She had stayed in track just in case she was pulled back. And, just in case she was pulled back, she had taken up kendo. She would need to learn how to be useful other than to predict the future.  
  
Hitomi shivered. It was autumn and the days were getting shorter and colder. Yukari poked Hitomi in the back. Hitomi shrieked and jumped. "Forgot I was here, Hitomi?" Yukari asked, a little perturbed.  
  
A big sweat drop appeared on the back of Hitomi's head. "Actually, yes," she said a little shyly.  
  
Yukari sighed. "You've been acting so strange for the last few years, I'm surprised I'm not used to it." She grabbed Hitomi's arm and pulled her away from the track and started running.  
  
"Wait!" cried Hitomi. "Let me get my bag first." She pulled away and picked up her blue duffel bag and wrapped up kendo stick. Then she ran off after Yukari. "Where are we going?"  
  
"To see Amano!" Yukari called out to Hitomi, who was trying to keep up.  
  
Hitomi flinched and stopped suddenly. Amano, though still friends, had seemed like he was trying to avoid Hitomi. Ever since she had told him about Van and Gaea, he had stayed away from her. He probably thinks I'm crazy, Hitomi thought. But she hadn't told Yukari about Gaia for fear she would get the same reaction.  
  
Yukari was going out with Amano. She had noticed that he and Hitomi, her best friend, had been drifting apart, but she didn't know why. So she had asked Amano to the school dance and dragged Hitomi along to try to get those two back together. It didn't work all that well and Hitomi stormed home after she saw them kissing outside. After that first kiss at the dance, things just started heading for the better. For Yukari at least. She stopped and looked back at Hitomi. "Don't worry, Hitomi. I'm sure you and Amano will become friends again. I'll make sure of it!" She pounded her chest for emphasis.  
  
Hitomi looked up and forced a genki smile. "Yeah! You're right! No need for me to worry! Just because he's been trying to avoid me for the past few years, I don't need to worry." Tears started to form in her eyes. "I don't need to worry because he probably thinks I'm crazy. Because of what I told him so many years ago, he's been avoiding me." She broke out crying and crouched down to the ground. "Just because…" Her sentence ended in sobs. Why? She thought, why? Why doesn't he want to be near me?  
  
Yukari came up and patted her on the back. "What? Why do you think he thinks you're crazy? What did you say?" She frowned. "What could you possibly say that would make him avoid you?"  
  
Hitomi reluctantly looked up. "Well…I haven't told you because I thought you would avoid me as well. But…" and she told Yukari about Gaea.  
  
Yukari listened, and when her friend finished, she laughed. Hitomi looked confused. Yukari explained. "It doesn't sound like Amano thinks you're crazy, it sounds like he's jealous!" Hitomi still looked confused. "If this Van person really does exist like you said he did, you made it sound like Amano was no competition! Young, great bod, wings of an angel, total devotion, what more could a girl possibly want?"  
  
Hitomi laughed; a genuine laugh this time. "You're right. I do love Van. More than Amano you could say. But that was a long time ago. Amano doesn't need to avoid me." Her smile faded. She looked up. The sky was getting darker and more stars were appearing. Hitomi stood up and turned toward Yukari. "Yukari, I'm going home. You can see Amano without me." Then she turned and ran off toward home. She spotted a small blue star. A vision of a smiling Van standing next to guymelef Escaflowne appeared in her head. I found it! She thought joyously. I found Gaea! As if the conversation between her and Yukari never occurred, Hitomi ran home, happier than ever. 


	2. Vision

Disclaimer: no, as much as I wish I did, I do not own Escaflowne or any of their characters. I thank the person who did, however. I only own my idea and this fic and any characters I made up.  
  
1 Back to Gaea  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Vision  
  
Hitomi burst open the door to her house. "I'm home!" she yelled. No one answered. She took off her shoes and put on her slippers and walked around the house. A note was attached to the fridge. Dropping her bag, she pulled the note off and read it.  
  
Dear Hitomi,  
  
Your father and I have gone out for the night. We will be  
  
back very late. Mamoru is over at a friend's house so you  
  
have the house to yourself tonight.  
  
Love, your mother  
  
Hitomi smiled. All right! She thought, no annoying brother to baby- sit! She picked up her bag and marched up the stairs to her room. After throwing her bag on the floor, Hitomi flopped down on the bed on her back. After a few seconds, she rolled over onto her stomach and pulled out a paper from under her bed. She looked at it and smiled. It was a picture of Van that she had drawn after she got back from Gaea. She wanted to remember his face forever so she drew a picture.  
  
Hitomi sighed and put the picture underneath her bed again. Then she got up and walked to her telescope that she got for her birthday. She leaned out the window and searched for the blue star that she had seen earlier. If she found it, she didn't notice because she didn't get that feeling that she got before. She looked through the eyepiece anyways and scanned the skies. "Van," she sighed as she looked at the stars. "Where can you be? Where are you hiding?"  
  
As if in response, her pendant started to glow. A blurred vision of jumbled colors flashed through her mind. As the colors raced by, shades of red were getting more prominent. Indistinguishable voices filled her mind. Fear and pain were the emotions that triumphed over the others. Suddenly, the colors, noise, and emotions stopped, and she saw a barren desert laden with dead bodies, all in a shade of red. The sun was high in the sky and a large black rock loomed in the distance. The view of the desert changed to an overhead view, and the scene started zooming out. Hitomi was sweating with fear. What was going on? The scenery stopped when Hitomi was in space, overlooking a blue, green, and tan planet. Much like Earth, she mused. But she had a feeling this wasn't Earth. Hitomi turned around and saw a very close moon overlapping the earth. She quickly turned around again and found herself back in the desert. But this time the desert was on fire. "Hot," she cried. "It's too hot!" She started to run from the fire and found herself running through the colors and voices and emotions again. But the fear and pain that raced through her was too much. Hitomi held her hands over her ears and screamed. "Stop it!" she cried. "Stop it! STOP IT!" Then she fainted.  
  
Hitomi woke up sometime later, staring at the ceiling. How long have I been out? she thought. She sat up cross-legged and looked around. Her telescope was still pointed at the sky. She looked down at her pendant and held it in her hand. "Was that Gaea?" she wondered aloud. "What happened to it? I thought all the fighting was over." She leaned back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. "I've got to try to get back there. Something is definitely wrong." She closed her eyes for a minute, half-expecting something to happen. When nothing did happen, Hitomi opened her eyes again and sighed. She pulled out the picture of Van from under her bed and sat up. Once again, she sighed and sat up, leaning against her bed. "Maybe tomorrow, at the track field. I'll try to go back to Gaea. Maybe it will work this time." Hitomi looked at the picture for a while before putting it back under her bed. Then she stood up. When she did, she stumbled and leaned against the wall for balance. Her head still hurt from fainting onto that hard, wooden floor. After regaining her balance, Hitomi got dressed for bed.  
  
"Hmm," she muttered, thinking about her vision. What exactly did it mean? She thought about that big black rock in the distance. It was floating, wasn't it? Was it Zaibach? How could they be back? They were defeated. Weren't they? Hitomi rolled onto her side. "It makes no sense," she grumbled. "Zaibach was defeated. And if they ever came back, Van would take care of them. Dammit." She rolled onto her back again and held her head. "Thinking about it is giving me a worse headache. I'll think about all this tomorrow." She yawned, closed her eyes, and was soon snoring. 


	3. Return

Disclaimer: I guess I need to put these in, don't I. Ano…I ONLY OWN VAN!!! Just kidding. I wish I did. Truth is, I don't own anything Escaflowne except for this fic. On with the show!!  
  
1 Back to Gaea  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Return  
  
Hitomi was humming the tune to Aoi Hitomi while swinging her bag. Her kendo stick leaned against her shoulder. She reached the track field and found she was the only one there. She looked around. "Was practice cancelled?" she wondered aloud, "or am I early?" Yukari would be coming any time soon; they had planned to meet there even if practice was cancelled. Hitomi held up her pendant and looked at it. "Was that really a vision of Gaea last night?" She recalled how the earth and moon hung in the sky. "Yes, I guess it really was." But something about that scene hadn't seemed quite right. The Mystic Moon had hardly shown during the day on Gaea, but the vision had shown it to be not only bright, but a bit closer then she remembered it.  
  
Hitomi tossed her bag and kendo stick on the ground and flopped down on her back next to them. She looked into the sky at a bright blue star. Star? Hitomi sat up very quickly, staring at the star. "It's only 5:00. There shouldn't be a star yet." Her mind flashed back to how the earth and moon seemed closer to Gaea. Maybe they were. Hitomi sighed and closed her eyes. This was all too much for her. When she opened them, she wasn't on the track field anymore. Instead, she was in a forest. She jumped to her feet and looked around. There was forest everywhere. Suddenly, something crashed through the bushes. Hitomi screamed. So did someone else. A girl ran right past Hitomi and through the forest. A few seconds later, two men in black armor and red capes ran past her after the girl. "What was that?!" Hitomi cried. She blinked and found herself back on the track field. The blue star twinkled in the sky.  
  
"I have to get back to Gaea, track or no track," Hitomi decided. She picked up her bag and tied her kendo stick onto it. Then she held out her pendant and swung it back and forth concentrating on getting back to Gaea. She squeezed her eyes tight and concentrated hard. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes, a little confused. "Maybe I have to concentrate harder," she thought. She swung the pendant while watching it swing in her mind. Then she thought of Van, Allen, Merle, Millerna, Dryden, and all her other friends in Gaea. Even with her eyes closed, she saw the bright flash of light above. She could feel that same column of light come down and land in front of her. She opened her eyes and stepped forward as if being guided.  
  
Yukari walked to the track field. She had promised to meet Hitomi there. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Yukari shielded her eyes and looked for the source. A column of light wavered not far in front of her. "Oh no," she thought. "Hitomi, don't do anything stupid!" She ran to the field and stopped when she saw Hitomi standing in front of the column. "Hitomi!" she yelled. Hitomi took a step forward. "Hitomi!" she yelled even louder. Hitomi took another step. "Hitomi, damn you!" Yukari ran toward Hitomi. "Stop!" Hitomi took a third step and was enveloped in the light. When she did that, the light grew stronger and Yukari had to stop and shield her eyes again. "Damn it," she muttered through gritted teeth. Not caring about the light, Yukari ran forward, half-blind. She reached toward Hitomi, and just as her fingers reached the column, it grew thin and disappeared into the sky. Yukari stopped and looked up. "Hitomi," she sighed. "Don't do anything dumb."  
  
The sun hung low in the sky, just next to a mountain and over a forest of green. A point of light shimmered in the sky. From that point came a column of light. It widened as it came closer to the ground. After a few seconds, the light dissipated, and Hitomi fell to her hands and knees. Then she stood up and looked around. In the sky, the blue-and- green earth was partially overlapped by the silver moon. "Gaea," Hitomi said quietly. "I made it." She jumped up and down, laughing. "I made it! I made it! I'm back in Gaea!"  
  
She stopped suddenly. She was sure she had heard a shout or something. Hitomi nearly stopped breathing. There it was again. She was sure of it this time. Slowly, she walked to where she thought the sound was coming from. The sunlight grew stronger as she walked on. The trees were thinning out, but the sound was getting louder. This time, there were more sounds. She could hear metal clinks, like in a factory or a mine. Hitomi walked out from the trees and found herself standing on the edge of a cliff of a valley. She held her hand up in front of her face to shade her eyes from the sun. The sounds were coming from below her. She set her bag down and creeped to the edge of the cliff. She gasped when she saw what was below her.  
  
People, no, slaves, were hauling wagons from the base of the cliff to the center. Hitomi took another gasp when she saw what was in the wagons: drag energists. Men dressed in black armor and red capes were ordering the slaves around. Just like in my vision, she thought. In the center of the valley next to the pile of drag energists was a small fort. Above the fort was a black flag with a red lion's head silhouette. What? 


	4. Re-aquaintance

Disclaimer: sigh. Someday I'll get a nice paying job and buy Escaflowne and all the characters. In other words, I don't own a damn thing about Escaflowne except for an artbook and this fic.  
  
Back to Gaea  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Re-acquaintance  
  
Hitomi pulled back from the cliff edge a bit. She shivered a little in fear. This was not Zaibach. This was a new enemy. She recalled her vision more clearly than ever now, and finally thought that she got it. Her vision was about the destruction caused by this new enemy; even Dornkirk wouldn't commit mass-murder like that in her vision, or the slavery that she saw now. The pain in her vision was the pain that these slaves felt. She slowly stood up, fists clenched and trembling. "I have to do something about this," she thought out loud. She turned around to try to find a way into that valley. She picked up her bag and walked into the forest.  
  
A few moments later, she a rustle in bushes near her. She instinctively reached for her kendo sword. A girl much like the one in her vision ran out. She stopped dead in her tracks and gasped when she saw Hitomi. They stared at one another for a few seconds. The girl had cat ears and an orange and black-striped tail with a cream puff on the end. Her pink hair was tied back in a high ponytail that reached her waist. She wore a skin-tight blue outfit that matched her eyes. (A/N: can you guess yet? ^_^) The cat-girl took a step back and turned to run back the way she came. The two men in black armor and red capes crashed out of the bushes blocking her escape.  
  
Hitomi quickly grabbed her stick and dropped her duffel bag. She then slid off the cloth covering and stood in ready position facing the soldiers. "Hey!" she yelled at them. The soldiers, who had been advancing towards the cat-girl, swords drawn, stopped and stood up, looking at Hitomi. Hitomi took a step back, suddenly unsure of what she was about to do. The soldiers looked at each other and smirked. One soldier turned and went after the cat-girl. The other walked slowly toward Hitomi. Hitomi grimaced and rushed forward, trying to keep in mind her kendo lessons. She also tried to remember that this was a real sword she was up against, not the bamboo ones they used in school. She concentrated on moving more to dodge than to attack. Left, right, left, right, damn! She narrowly avoided a blow that could've cut her in half. The soldier moved to get in what he thought to be the final blow. Hitomi saw the opening and struck. She struck hard and fast. Does anyone know what it feels like to get punched in your solar plexus? You literally can't breathe for a minute. Now take that punch and substitute the hand for a very hard bamboo pole. Itai. The soldier went down hard and didn't move. Hitomi could see that he was struggling for breath, but unconscious. She carefully tapped him with her foot; yep, he was down and out.  
  
She turned around and looked for the cat-girl and the other soldier. She saw the soldier at the base of a tree. The cat-girl clung to a branch, hissing. Hitomi snuck up behind the soldier and hit him over the head with her kendo stick. It was very fortunate that he didn't have a helmet. He also went down hard. Hitomi looked up at the cat-girl in the tree. "It's all right, now," she said softly. The cat-girl didn't move from her branch, but seemed to relax a little.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered. She shifted a bit and a pink pendant on a black string fell out from under her. The cat-girl looked startled.  
  
So did Hitomi. "What is that?" she asked.  
  
The cat-girl sat up, obviously more relaxed now that the soldiers were unconscious. She fingered her necklace. "It's my nail filer," she said simply. And as if to prove it, she started filing her nails.  
  
That pendant looks like- she thought. Then it hit her. "Merle?" she asked cautiously.  
  
The cat-girl looked up from filing. "How do you know my name?" she asked suspiciously.  
  
"Merle! It's me! Hitomi!" Hitomi put on her usual over-energetic smile.  
  
"Hitomi? Who?" Merle was obviously confused.  
  
Hitomi's smile faded. "Hitomi. Don't you remember?" Merle shook her head. Hitomi sighed. "Five years ago? Zaibach? Escaflowne? Van?" Merle stiffened. Hitomi tried some more. "Big adventure to get rid of Dornkirk? Remember yet?"  
  
"I-I think so," Merle said. Hitomi reached into her school uniform and pulled out her pendant. She held it up to Merle's face. Merle leaned in close to study it. Hitomi pleaded to herself that Merle could and would remember. The pendant flashed a sudden bright yellow light and Merle was sent through hundreds of flashbacks, all included Hitomi. Merle blinked and the flashbacks stopped. "Oh, Hitomi!" she cried. "Now I remember!" She leaped off the tree and glomped Hitomi, giving her her famous kitty kisses (known to everyone else as licks).  
  
Hitomi was so shocked at first she froze in place. Then after a few moments, she relaxed a bit and hugged Merle back. "I'm glad to see you again." They started crying, they were so happy to see each other again.  
  
Merle finally managed to pull herself off of Hitomi and they looked at each other. "Geez, Hitomi, where've you been all this time?"  
  
"Don't you remember? I went back to my own world." Hitomi carefully walked over to her bag, making sure that the soldiers weren't waking up. She picked it up and walked back to Merle. "By the way, what happened down there? I don't think Zaibach would do something like this."  
  
Merle tensed up. "No, not Zaibach. Someone else. That," she pointed in the direction of the cliff, "is what is left of the once proud Fanelia. It's now a slave camp. They enslave all beast-people and make us mine drag energists. I don't know why; maybe they use them as weapons."  
  
There was this miraculous close-up of Merle as she was saying all this. Hitomi peeked under Merle's arm at her, trying to get some screen time. "But who is they?"  
  
Merle looked a bit surprised. "You don't know?"  
  
Hitomi shook her head. "I just got here, I don't know a thing." Merle got her usual sly look at that statement. "What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Merle responded. "But I'd say that this enemy is ten times worse than Zaibach was." She pointed to the red cape on one of the soldiers. Hitomi noticed that it had the same black lion's head that was on the fort flag. "That is our enemy." She pointed to the cape.  
  
  
  
A/N: Well? Whaddya think? I need, I repeat, NEED a name for this new enemy! PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME!!! Kudasai? Okii kudasai? Well, I've reintroduced Merle! All you Merle fans out there, rejoice! Remember, this is five years later so Merle is five years older. She doesn't look the same! (pictures neo-Merle) I want her hair…well, not pink hair, but that hairstyle. Maybe in three more years… I might or might not reintroduce Van in the next chapter. Me and your reviews will decide. So PLEASE REVIEW! Ano…^_^; Arigato to sayonara! 


End file.
